A transnational reflection on the historiography of nations and nationalism in 19th and 20th-century Europe

Abstract

This essay aims to explore the purported difference between “Eastern” and “Western” European nationalism in historical terms, and to inquire whether it makes sense to refer to a dichotomy between ethnic and civic nationalism intrinsically related to the historians’ own ‘mental maps’. Taking into account the existing links between nationalism, national history and the
emergence of history as an academic discipline, an exploration of the ‘territorial entanglements’ still evident in a large part of the scholarly literature will attempt to highlight whether it is possible to identify a ‘European way’ of studying nationalism and territorial identities, or whether it is more convenient to proceed to a ‘reprovincialization’ of European nationalism(s).